George VI (King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon) dies aged 56 after a long illness. He is succeeded by his daughter The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh as Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a visit to Kenya.

In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.

August 22 – The most damaging shock of the 1952 Kern County earthquake sequence strikes with a moment magnitude of 5.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This event damaged several hundred buildings in Bakersfield, California, with total additional losses of $10 million, with two associated deaths and some injuries.

August 23 – Kitty Wells is first woman to score number 1 hit with the song "It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".

August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.

The Pace-Finletter MOU 1952: A Memorandum of understanding is signed between "...Air Force Secretary Finletter and Army Secretary Pace that established a fixed wing weight limit [for the Army] of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated..."[1]

November 25 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2015, it continues next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.